Three more years of vegan eating... and a bread baking hack.

I'll be the first to admit, I've never been good at following through on personal projects. I'm the type to charge in enthusiastically and then a month later abandon it for something else. Part of that is the ugly side of perfectionism - never wanting to do anything unless it's to be done exactly right.

I've thought about reviving this blog several times, not because I think there's any audience for it except for my family, but because I love food and I like to write. I used to write content for a living, but now that I don't sometimes I need a bit of a word-outlet. So here I am.

There have been a lot of changes in my life in the past three years - mostly positive. But two things haven't changed: still vegan, still spooky.

I could say a lot about the food I've eaten and recipes I've tried in the past three years, but let's start with something recent and summer-relevant. I've learned to make bread in a slow cooker.

Basic Slow Cooker Bread

Ultimately you can probably use any bread recipe in a slow cooker with some experimentation. I learned this trick from other blogs when I was looking for a way to have fresh baked bread in the summer without heating up my entire apartment. Here's what I learned:

• Your bread won't puff up as much as it would in the oven, so expect a slightly wider, flatter loaf.
• Since the bread will rise and bake at the same time, you won't have to let the bread rise before moving to the slow cooker.
• Baking times in slow cookers will vary quite a bit depending on the size of your slow cooker and the size of your loaf.
• You can make fresh bread in your no-AC apartment without dying of heat stroke.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup warm water (130º F)
1 Tbsp. honey or agave
1 1/2 Tbsp. dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose or white bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rolled oats (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, salt, honey, and yeast and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Add oats and flour one cup at a time until fully combined. Knead thoroughly.

Line your slow cooker with parchment paper and form dough into a round loaf, or turn into a loaf pan if your slow cooker is large enough. Cover and set your slow cooker to High.

From here your baking time will be a bit of trial and error, but most baking times seem to range from 1 to 2 1/2 hours. For more detailed tips, check out the how-to on The Kitchn!

Thanks for reading my revival post. Stay spooky, friends.

Recipe: French Bread

This is my favorite quick bread recipe - all it takes is a little kneading, a short time to rise, and you have bread. There are no fancy ingredients or anything like that. Serve with soup or spread with vegan butter, or whatever else you want. This bread is one of the first recipes I ever learned to make, and I still bake it all the time. Be careful about the temperature of the water - if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast. If you don't have a thermometer don't worry too much, just heat it enough that it's warm to the touch, but not hot.

Ingredients


1 1/2 cup warm water (130° F)
1 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar
1 1/2 Tbsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 450° F. In a large mixing bowl, combine water, salt, honey, and yeast. Let stand 5-10 minutes, until the yeast has activated. Add flour and knead lightly until most of the flour has been worked in. Shape into 2 loaves and turn into a baguette pan. Cover and let rise 20 minutes. Make slashes in the top with a knife and spray or brush with salt water. Bake 20 minutes.